New Chicks on the Block

So last weekend, temptation got the better of me. Somewhere between home and the chicken shop a little voice inside my head quietly whispered

More chickens, more chickens, buy more chickens.

Can you guess?
Can you imagine?
Can you see into the future?

Over at the chicken shop, there were many wee sweet birds. Every colour, species, breed and size represented.

Maybe this one’s a little ambitious.

Duckling maybe?

Or some of these?

So sweet!

Well in the end The Thompson Twins got the better of me!

They are New Hampshire bantams, an American breed. They’re ten weeks old.

Now when you already have hens it’s important to introduce new birds the right way.

To start with the new girls were set up in a separate cage.

It’s important to create a quarantine to ensure the new birds are healthy.

We watched for a few days to see if they were eating and drinking. We gave them apple cider vinegar for their still growing plumage.

We also needed to look at the output if these hens to see if there was any sign of illness.

In this time our existing hens were kept separate. After a few days we allowed them to roam around the cage of the new girls. They started to talk to each other. A bit of Danish too.

As you can see, they got quite friendly.

So now we’ve decided they’re ready to start integrating. By allowing visual contact and communication between the birds they should get along.

It’s looking good so far! Granny Meeky is our dominant hen. She’s the strawberry blonde. With a small friendly peck she’s established the pecking order and if seems the new chicks are fitting in!